Ain't what a kick in the head?
by Christine M. C
Summary: This is the story of Rose, the only person in the entire Mojave wasteland to have been shot in the head, get in fights constantly, get shot at on a regular basis, and still would prefer to wear a dress over a suit of armor in a heartbeat.
1. Lets start at the End

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, or anybody in this except for Rose... So don't steal her, she's all i got... :(

* * *

"Come on, just stay awake for me, okay?" Boone's voice was calm, but his eyes, which Rose could only just make out through his shades, told another story all together. He was trying desperately to stop the now gushing hole in her stomach.

"B-Boone...? I think... I think we're going to have to... postpone that drink..." she forced a small smile, and Boone tried his best to give her one back. "Could you promise me som-" Boone stopped her quickly.

"This isn't goodbye, so don't start telling me your last wishes...!" he snapped, but when he noticed her eyes open up a bit with surprise, he softened, "I won't let that happen, I... _I _can't lose you too..." Rose knew he must have meant Carla, and shuddered a bit. Even after all this time he wouldn't let himself be happy, still...

Rose gave him a small smile, and weakly lifted her hand to his cheek. Her hand was a bit shakey, and terribly cold. He lifted one hand on top of her own, and gave her a half hearted smile. " That'a boy... should've gotten shot sooner... w-would've seen... a smile..." her words were slurring together, and she was having a hard time focusing on Boone's face.

"Save your energy." was all he said, like she was using up the battery on her pip-boy light.

"You know...I just...want you to be...happy...so promise me...promise me you will..." her voice was trailing off and her eyes were starting to drift shut. "Promise...?" she said softly, her voice no more than a mere whisper.

"Promise," he said, then quickly added "I promise I'll be happy, with you."

Rose was still and quiet now, as Gannon finally managed to fight his way back to them. Boone stood up as Gannon quickly started trying his best to save Rose. Boone couldn't watch, as silent tears started to roll down his cheeks.

The battle of Hoover Dam was over.

* * *

_A few months before..._

"Oh come on guys! Why not? We need a break after all of this, I know for a fact its been hard on us all, and I think that you guys deserve a break!" Rose shouted smiling cheerfully at the thought of making her friends happy, she was a softey that way, but no one seemed to mind.

"I don't know..." said Veronica quietly, not meeting Rose's gaze, " Are you really sure you can handle this all on your own? I mean it been tough with all of us here... You'd have a pretty hard time dealing with even a radroach without us." she said, only half joking.

"Hey! Those things creep the hell out of me! And besides... there were like a hundred of them trying to get me all at once, of course I screamed for help!" she retorted, sounding fairly distresed.

"There were only _five_ and I killed them with a broken whiskey bottle!" chimed in Cass, being her usually delight to be around.

"Same thing!" said Rose louder than she had meant to, her cheeks flushed red. "Anyway, I'll be fine, I have my trusty revolver, among other things... And besides, some one has to keep an eye on things, don't worry I'll be fine! I have Rex with me!" Rex gave a small bark to acknowledge his name, before quickly drifting back to sleep on the floor besides her feet.

"I think its a plan, I've been working too hard anyway." said Gannon calmly, swiping a strand of stray hair out of his eyes.

"Will you pay for drinks?" asked Cass, holding an empty bottle of whiskey in her hand.

"Of course. Whats a vacation without a few drinks? Right?" Rose said, with smile returning to her face.

"Well then sure why not?" said Cass smiling and already pocketing the caps Rose had given her.

"Well deary if you don't mind, I think grandma is going back to look after her bighorners for a while." Said Lily sweetly.

"Fine by me," said Rose kindly "just promise to be back by the end of the week, okay?"

Lily nodded and then, with that, went to the elevator with Cass. And, since it was already a bit over the weight limit, Cass and her went down the elevator, without the others. Gannon pressed the elevator botton, with Veronica besides him, waiting to leave as well. Raul finally emerged from the kitchen, "Don't bother explaining I heard it all," he said suddenly holding out one hand to Rose, "give me some caps and I'll be back in a week." Rose obeyed without question, being slightly afraid by the gouls meer presence. He was mostly pleasant, but he had been in a bad mood all morning, so she was trying her best to stay out of his hair, figuratively speaking, of course.

Boone was the only one left, and he hadn't spoken a single word the whole time. Which wasn't really a surprise, she just wished he would speak a bit more. "Well Boone here," she held out some caps to him," you can go and gamble or something."

He didn't take them.

"What are you going to do?" he asked nonchalantly, quietly looking at Rose from behind thick shades.

"Well, I was going to go and deal with a few raiders, a friend asked me to..." she trailed off before looking back up at Boone, smiling brightly she added " And you should go off and have some fun."

Boone looked at her for a long while before walking to the elevator without a sound. Rose looked after him as the door shut. She couldn't figure it out, but lately whenever they talked, it left something to be _desired. _" ED-E watch after the place, me and Rex are going raider hunting!" she said, with her revolver out for dramatic effect, she started for the elevator herself.


	2. Oh raiders Wait raiders!

Rose lay down atop the sandy outcrop overlooking the raiders makeshift camp, which seemed to be compiled of what looked like loosely sewn together pieces of their enemies clothing, into bad representations of tents and sleeping mats. Despite all her boasting of how brave she was, she found that leaving without her sniper rifle firmly in hand was a bad idea. She peered through the scope and counted fourteen raiders, not including the two dogs guarding the entrance to one of the tents.

She lined up the shot, took a deep breath, and fired. "Thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten..." whispered Rose, under the sound of her own pulse. She had managed to take down five of them before they noticed her position, and a brigade of bullets started flying her way. She ducked back down into cover, and waited until she could no longer hear the deafening sound of bullets flying past her face.

Something was off, why weren't they attacking? Rex started to whimper and whine where he was lying behind her, suddenly he jumped up and stormed off in the other direction, opposite the raiders. "Rex...!" she whispered, but he just kept running. All of a sudden, a sharp pain coursed through the back of her skull, and the world seemed to blur and shift together, right before everything went black.

* * *

Oh, would you look at that? The little fucks, finally woken up," hissed a gruff voice, from somewhere behind of Rose. Suddenly there was a sharp tug on her hair, and her neck swung abruptly backwards, knife at her throat. She let out a small squeak of pain as the raider let his knife dig slightly into her neck. "Now the little fucks complaining!" The raider swung around in front of her, his face so close to her own that she could smell the strong odor of rotten flesh permiating from both his clothes and his breath. "If you think that i won't carve up that pretty little face of yours, then your wrong!" He snarled whilst moving the knife, which had still been planted on her throat, slowly up to her cheek, leaving a line of blood in its wake.

With his free hand he motioned to what looked like a pile of corpses, " For what you've done to my friends, I'll gut you and feed you to the dogs!" His muts barked hungrily, thier toughs rasping there lips as if they could already taste fresh meat in their jaws.

Rose didn't say a word, she simply stared up at him, unafraid, like she was prepared for this, even willing to die. The raider seemed to her, to almost be like a childhood bully, who only wished to evoke a reaction from her. And Rose simply wouldn't give him that pleasure. He dug his knife slightlying into her cheek, " Aww, the lil' girly gonna cr-" he cut short as his head exploded right before her eyes. A mixture of brainmatter, blood, and various other bodily fluids spattering across her face. And then, one by one, each met the same fate in quick succession. It all happened so abruptly, that not a single raider had quiet grasped what was happening, before it was too late.

* * *

Boone stepped foward, Rex at his heels, gun firmly in hand, and quietly made his way over to Rose. Having to to step over body after body of his fallen foes. She looked bloodied and beaten, and it stung Boone to see her in this condition. He cursed himself for not getting there sooner, as he quickly started to cut the ropes that were tied about her wrists and anckles. "Boone...? How did you...?"

"I thought you might have needed a hand..." he replied flatly. As he helped her up he started to analyze her wounds. _One bullet to the shoulder, cuts up and down her neck and face, black eye, bruised arms, and legs... Why couldn't I have gotten here sooner...? _He thought, blaming himself for her injuries.

"Hehehe... Looks like I have to stop-" she suddenly wobbled, loosing her balance and falling foward into Boones arms. " I think my ankles broken... They must've done that while I was out... Smart idea... For a bunch of junkies." Boone looked down at her for a long moment before reaching down and picking her up princess style. "Whoa! You don't have to do this you know... I can limp back on my own." She whispered, somehow not wanting him to let go.

" I wouldn't let you if you did..." was his only reply, as he started towards the Old Mormon Fort.


End file.
